December 09, 2013

Build a PC-controlled power supply with Arduino

As part of a class project at university, Instructables user "digman" and others have designed and built a power supply that can be controlled via a computer and an Arduino board. It is an interesting design, with the Arduino controlling the output voltage via PWM and N-MOSFET, and also monitoring the output voltage with an ADC - which is fed back to the sketch to monitor and adjust for relatively precise control.

Finally the PC control is via processing which offers a neat GUI for the power supply and communicates to the Arduino via USB. The creator has built a dual-supply version of his project and demonstrates the controls and results in the following video:

Interesting work, and a novel method of voltage control. To learn more, check out the project Instructable. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well. 

If you need to add your own external circuitry to prototype with an Arduino or compatible board, pm one or more of our range of ProtoShields. From the tiny LeoStick to the Mega range, we offer a complete range for you to work with.

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